Sooo. With Alison in rehab, Cosima dying, Sarah on the run, and Helena recaptured by the Proletheans, the stakes are higher than ever for our clones. And yet this episode of Orphan Black managed to combine high-flying plot with some real laughs. “Knowledge of Causes, and Secret Motion of Things” was a sadly Helena-less episode that Alison more than made up for in clone fun and games. First rule of Clone Club: pretend to be your fellow clones for instant hilarity.
Spoilers after the jump.
Cosima and Delphine get in another of their “playing doctor” while playing doctor moments, making out while Cosima is getting the stem cell treatment from last episode. It can’t last, though—Cosima finds out that Delphine is hiding the fact that the stem cells come from one of Kira’s baby teeth that was knocked out from her Season 1 car accident. She demands that Delphine leave her lab because this is her body and her science. However, she soon calls Sarah and tells her the news: Kira must return to DYAD if Cosima is to receive any more medicine. So the important part of this episode: Stinekey was dead on about Kira being the healing factor in the whole Project LEDA debacle. When Sarah gets the call, she doesn’t hesitate to bundle Kira up and put her in the car. (Kira pulls out a loose baby tooth in Cosima’s name, too. Touching, and also disturbing.)
Sarah and Mrs. S, on the same side for now, decide to play Rachel and Leekie against each other—Mrs. S tells Leekie that Ethan Duncan is still alive and has all the original research on the clones, while she tells Rachel that her father is still alive and lets the two of them meet. As a result, Rachel fires Leekie, paving the way for his superior, Marian, to enter the convoluted clones plot. Rachel warns Leekie not to go home or get into his car, and he might live.
Alison and Vic the Dick are still together in rehab, where Vic is trying to get Alison to open up to him about her secrets so that he can take the dirt to Angie. And boy does Alison deliver—it doesn’t even take three minutes for her to spill the beans about standing by while Aynsley choked and died. Vic is pretty thrilled, but Alison finds out that he’s going to sell her out and makes a last-ditch deal with him: Vic will get to talk to Sarah in return for not saying anything about Alison. Sarah comes, but Felix is able to drug Vic into unconsciousness before things get too out of hand. As Sarah plays Alison to distract everyone else in the center, Alison and Felix haul Vic out of sight.
Even though this is the least important clone plotline, plot-wise, it was the one I most enjoyed. Seeing Tatiana Maslany act as Sarah-as-Alison and then as Alison just drove home her immense talent: you didn’t have to look at the bangs to tell the difference between the clones when even the swing of her arms changes from clone to clone. She is so brilliant. Sometimes I have to forcibly remind myself that all the clones are played by the same person, because it just doesn’t seem possible.
But back to the episode, where the least important character suddenly turns into the most important character for one brief moment of glory and confusion: Donnie, Alison’s husband and monitor, finally finds out that his wife is a clone and, distraught, tracks Leekie down as he’s leaving DYAD. Donnie pulls what I assume is one of Alison’s guns at him, and Leekie gets in the car. He’s not scared, though; he just ridicules Donnie until Donnie, frustrated by his own uselessness, slams the gun against the steering wheel. This sets the gun off. The gun was pointed at Leekie.
Oh, Donnie. Your ineptitude actually killed one of our more interesting male characters. That’s pretty hilarious, if also sad because I wanted Leekie to stick around a bit more. He was actually motivated by the science and not any of the clones, and I appreciated that coldbloodedness in a villain. The clones all have their personal reasons for being involved, and so, to an extent, do most of the secondary characters—Mrs. S is in this for Kira, Felix is in it for Sarah, Delphine is in it for Cosima, but Leekie was always in it for the science. Maybe Art will get to have a bigger sleuthing role now, at least…
Bye, Dr. Leekie! Science will miss you.
The interclone relationships were the absolute highlight of this episode, from Sarah playing Alison to Kira’s drawing of Sarah, Alison, and Cosima. I especially love that Sarah and Cosima have progressed so far in their relationship. I can still remember a far-off Season 1 where the two of them were constantly at odds about what to do about their situation, and it warmed my cold cynic heart to see Sarah immediately rush to her clone’s side now. Even if I am really worried about the mythological ending of the Leda story.
Sadly, we still know nothing about Cal, except that he’s totally chill with Sarah and Kira waltzing in and out of his life. Without knowing literally anything about his motivations, he can never become a three-dimensional character, no matter how nice he seems. I hope we learn a little more about why he’s doing what he’s doing before the season is out. If not, he’ll only continue to be a plot device, just there for free babysitting, and that would be such a waste of his character.
Next episode, Cophine fans should probably prepare some tissues, as Cosima’s illness appears to be back in full force. Also, we may find out more about Beth Childs! I doubt she’s alive, as we saw her get hit by a train in the pilot and her body was in the morgue for a while, but we might meet someone who knew her and knew what she was investigating. You know what that means—more Proletheans. Can’t wait. Till next time, Clone Clubbers.
Lady Geek Girl and Friends 